Move over Nandos, there’s another kid in town serving up tasty Portuguese peri peri chicken, alongside other delicious Algarvian plates to get your senses running wild!

Just a short walk from London Bridge, you’ll find Casa do Frango. Step on up into the large and bright room with a ceiling formed of roof lights, giving way to a huge amount of natural light. There’s long communal tables laid out, making it a perfect spot for big groups to dine. On this occasion however, it was just me and my date!

Then follows a selection of great tasting small plates, served to share.

Bacalhau (Portuguese for dried and salted cod) and chickpea fritters (£6.00). These little parcels of joy, served on a bed of lemon aioli were absolutely delicious. Crispy outer layer and soft and fluffy within. Think along the lines of croquettes but with cod and mashed chickpeas instead of potato. Yessss….Give me more!

Bacalhau & chickpea fritters

The octopus rice (£9.00) was nice and garlicky with roasted red peppers… the addition of charred lemon juice added tanginess to elevate the taste of the tender chunks of octopus throughout the dish. Mmmm octopus…. [one of] my fave!

Octopus rice

The peri peri garlic prawns (£8.50) were perfectly cooked – nice and juicy! My only gripe would be getting those suckers out of their shell. Messy business!

Piri piri – garlic prawns

Pork belly ribs (£8.00) were deliciously charred and served with three bean stew, roast red peppers and chorizo. Great combo of flavours!

Pork belly ribs

It starts to get dark as the room fills up with hungry crowds of people. The pork belly was a deceivingly heavy dish and I’m starting to fill up at this point. Do we even need any peri peri chicken?! Hells yeah! This is what we came for!

Getting

Dark

Busy dining room

The main event comes out. Free range chicken sold by the half (£9.50) with a choice of peri peri, oregano or lemon and garlic to brush over the char-coaled poultry. We opt for the whole juicy peri peri chicken (£19.00), so moist and marinated full of flavour. Mmm mmm mmm…get in ma belly!

The peri peri sauce that comes with had a nice kick – spicy, garlicy, tangy and so addictive! You’ll find yourself drowning the succulent chicken pieces with the stuff. Keeping things light, we opt for a salad – grain mustard and a vinaigrette dressing was a nice touch, taking rabbit food to a whole new level. And also the obligatory chips to go with….nothing spesh but did the trick!

Whole piri piri chicken

Lettuce salad

Fries

That peri peri sauce MmMm

And for the finale…a Portuguese experience is not the same without trying a pastel de nata, the traditional custard tarts (£5.00) served with coffee ice cream for me. Not quite the same as the ones I’ve tried in Lisbon but a close second!

Traditional Portuguese custard tart with coffee ice cream

Expect an upmarket version of Nandos but with more on offer – a variety of tasty Portuguese small plates in a nicer setting with lively and buzzing surroundings.